(Este 1631–1722 Venice)
A group of figures with musicians and a young boy,
oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private collection, Bergamo

In the present paining, a group of women playing musical instruments including a flute, a lyre and a tambourine are illustrated to the left, whilst on the right a child, as if suspended in mid-air, dances to their music.

The figures are depicted full-length and close to the picture plane, and thereby involve the viewer in the theatrical scene with great effect. This compact group is rendered with fast fluid strokes, while the light falling from the left emphasises the monumentality of the figures.

Antonio Zanchi trained in Venice with Matteo Ponzone, studying the great masters of the Venetian tradition, such as Tintoretto. Subsequently he approached the diverse style of Luca Giordano and Giovanni Battista Langetti, who had brought the naturalistic language of Ribera to Venice. Following these influences, Zanchi asserted himself as one of the leading exponents of the so-called tenebrosi group of painters, whose style is distinguished by strong contrasts of light and shade and an accentuation of dramatic effects.

During the 1660s and 1670s, Zanchi received many important commissions in Venice, such as Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple for the Scuola di San Fantin, and two scenes of the Martyrdom of St Julian for the church of Saint Giuliano, in which the example of Veronese is transformed into a theatrically baroque language. Furthermore, with the monumental Plague at Venice of 1666, painted for the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Zanchi asserted himself as a painter of religious compositions on a large scale. His fame grew to such an extent that he was called to work at Munich where he collaborated on the decoration of the Residence and on the church of the Theatine Order. Francesco Trevisani and Antonio Molinari were among his pupils.